Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bike share, Bixi, cycling, Montreal, transportation, urban cycling
Somebody tell me what to think about this.
Bixi owes the city $31.6 million on a $37-million city loan. Montreal also guaranteed a line of credit on which Bixi owes $6.4 million.That means Montreal taxpayers could be stuck with a $38-million bill, though the city hopes a sale of the international part of the business will cut that amount.Bixi also owes its suppliers $9 million.In total, then, Bixis total debt is at least $47 million.Bixi is also embroiled in multimillion-dollar lawsuits with a former software supplier.
via Bixi files for bankruptcy protection.
Filed under: maps, Uncategorized | Tags: bicycling, cycling, GPS tracks, Strava
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Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: American football, concussionball, disposable heros, football, NFL, NFL playoffs, San Diego Chargers, Seau
via the twitterers
Is this correct? Pretty amazin.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Aurora, bicycle cops, bike messengers, bike police, couriers, Debra Sue Corr Police Training Center, guns, shooting
Should be on much lighter, quicker bikes. Not heavy cheap (in many cases, full suspension) mountain bikes with sluggish tires and racks and the whole nine. But nobody listens to me.
Cops on bicycles aren\’t always taken as seriously as their brethren in police cruisers, probably because they don\’t look as cool pedaling and wearing bike helmets. But they\’re every bit as tough as colleagues who travel with the help of four wheels instead of two — and in Aurora, they definitely have the special skills needed to shoot over a pair of handlebars. The Aurora Police Facebook page, which regularly shares vivid pics (check out our post spotlighting badass Aurora cops of the 1980s) recently posted images of bike-patrol firearms training at the Debra Sue Corr Police Training Center to \”certify officers in the use of the police mountain bikes for patrol operations.\” Mess with them at your peril.
via Photos: Aurora police train to shoot from a bike.
The only thing slower than a bike cop’s fully loaded low-end mountain bike is, possibly, a B-cycle bike.
I understand the point of putting cops on bikes. Cruising slow is a huge part of the job. But often they need to speed somewhere as quickly as possible. They don’t.
Messengers carry MORE STUFF than cops. Messengers in slow-cruise mode are faster than bike cops in hurry mode. It has a lot to do with equipment choice.
Take some of that homeland security money and buy some rigid forks.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: argyles, dopers, EPO, peloton, pro cycling is creepy, swampland for sale, Vaughters
…to explain why a team stacked with old dopers (who all claim to have stopped using just about exactly however many years ago matches the statute of limitations, by zany coincidence) has been so successful while doping is still an acknowledged issue in the sport:
Sponsorship keeps the whole operation going, And once you had that, the doping started to stop, the level came down a little bit and all of a sudden we started winning races.
via Colorado Cyclist Jonathan Vaughters dishes on The Armstrong Lie, doping and Lance.
THEY ARE JUST THAT GOOD FOLKS.
Are you buying that?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Cafe Roubaix, Roubaix, Specialized, Twitter
Getting blasted on Twitter and elsewhere. Lacking a real defense.
Richter was notified earlier this year by “Specialized Canada” that his bike shop’s name infringes on Specialized’s Canadian trademark of the name “Roubaix.” Yup. Specialized’s engineers made a nice bike and after they did, the douchebags™ in the legal department went ahead and registered the name of that French city as theirs. They couldn’t do it in the U.S., but they’re aggressively “protecting” the name up there in the Great White North.
via The Explainer: Because I @#$%ing hate bullies : Red Kite Prayer.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle helmet laws, bike share, Bike sharing, helmet, helmet compulsion, mandatory helmet laws, Melbourne
They want to privatize and expand.
Patronage has grown every year since the scheme was launched in 2010. It had its best-ever month in January, when 18,809 rentals were recorded. Last month there were 12,781 rentals, an average of 421 rides a day. More than 1000 courtesy helmets were added last month to boost patronage.
via Buyer sought for Melbourne's bike scheme.
(Helmets are required for adults in Melbourne.)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycling, bike counts, biking, cycling, san francisco. ridership, urban cycling
According to latest report:
http://sfmta.com/sites/default/files/SFMTA%202013%20Bicycle%20Count%20Report.pdf
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: copenhagen wheel, cycling, ebikes, electric assist, electric bikes, superpedestrian, urban cycling
13 pounds.
It doesn’t have a throttle that lets you just run it like a motorbike. It senses how you ride and gives you a boost when you need it.
Riders are given a boost as they pedal by measuring their effort, instead of using a throttle. This preserves the normal biking experience while enabling riders to bike faster, farther, and easier….All actuation of the wheel happens automatically via the pedals through sensing and control algorithms. When the rider pedals harder, such as when going uphill, the wheel pushes with increasing power. Using your smartphone with the Superpedestrian app, you can vary the level of powered assist.
via Copenhagen Wheel bike booster rolls out, available for pre-order : TreeHugger.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Firecracker Ball, Jon Hammond, peloton, posh voices, Stag Do, Wiggins
Sir Bradley Wiggins’ representatives have apologised after Britains most decorated cyclist stunned guests by making a crude joke about a sex act at a charity dinner held for child abuse victims, saying it was “friendly banter” after he was “caught unawares” by the event’s auctioneer Jon Hammond.At the Firecracker Ball in aid of Barnardo’s children’s charity, Hammond approached Wiggins, who had donated a signed shirt for the auction, the cyclist’s face then appeared on a giant video screen as he told the host: “You’ve got a posh voice. I like posh voices. S me off.”
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Keegan Stephan, NYC, Park Slope, pedestrian, Prospect Park West, speed limits
A nice bit of civil disobedience here:
Calling it “a gift to the city,” a group of activists changed the speed limit in Park Slope this weekend by hanging rogue 20 mph speed limit signs along Prospect Park West.
Safe streets activists with the group Right of Way installed the signs on Saturday night around 10pm. Organizer Keegan Stephan says the group was motivated by recent pedestrian deaths — and statistics showing a lower speed limit save lives.
“A pedestrian hit by a car going 20 mph has a 95% chance of survival,” he said, who added that a WNYC map showed the city could lower the speed limit to 20 miles per hour across two-thirds of city under current state law. “We don’t understand why they’re not, (so) we took it upon ourselves.”
He said the signs are also a way of showing support for a bill currently under consideration by the New York City Council. When introduced last month, Intro 535 aimed to lower the city’s speed limit to 20 miles per hour. But last Friday, Council Member Jimmy Vacca, who chairs the Transportation Committee, told WNYC “the bill is being tweaked a little bit.” He said “we’re aiming for 25 miles per hour on narrow, one-way streets.”
(Stephan’s reaction to that news: “That’s disappointing.”)
via Activists Take Brooklyn Speed Limit Into Own Hands, Install 20mph Signs in Park Slope – WNYC.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Boston, Furth, Nicole Freedman, sharrows
In Boston…
Sort of like an idea I laid out in Cyclist’s Manifesto.
A new set of street markings on Allston’s Brighton Avenue aren’t simply an errant set of dashes installed by city staff with extra paint — they’re part of a national experiment to test innovative bike facilities.
I first noticed the markings last week while driving through Allston Village. Running down the right-hand lanes on both sides of Brighton Avenue are bike-priority icons, known as “sharrows” in cyclist parlance, hugged by two sets of dashed lines along either side that make the lane look more like an airport runway.
My first thought: Sharrows on steroids!
And Boston bike czar Nicole Freedman said that’s exactly what they are.
via Boston Bikes debuts ‘sharrows on steroids’ – Local news – Boston.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bike lanes, biking, Boris, cycling, cycling fatalities, cycling superhighways, London, lorries, superhighways, urban cycling
London’s ‘cycling superhighways’ turned out to be nothing but paint in most cases. Some paint on the street might be nice for bikes, but don’t call it a superhighway.
Statistics show that the behavior of London\’s cyclists is rarely to blame for serious accidents. Many say the real problem is the high number of construction vehicles and hauling trucks on London\’s roads.
via London's cycling 'superhighways' prove to be super dangerous | Public Radio International.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Andrew Restuccia, energy, fracking, oil imports, peak oil, Politico, transportation, US oil imports, US oil production
Attention news reporters, editors, producers and quacking heads: The US burns about 18.5 million barrels per day, and produces 7.7.
18.5 – 7.7 is 10.8.
These numbers are from the freakin EIA itself: http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/weekly/pdf/table1.pdf
No wonder the Koreans are kicking our tails in math. We get reports like this, all over the internet and on NPR:
In October, for the first time since February 1995, the U.S. produced more crude oil than it imported, the Energy Information Administration said this week.
EIA, the Energy Department’s nonpartisan statistical arm, said U.S. crude oil production averaged 7.7 million barrels per day in October while 7.6 million barrels per day were imported.
via U.S. oil output tops imports for first time since 1995 – Andrew Restuccia – POLITICO.com.
Even if that were true, all it would mean is that we still have to import half the oil we burn. But we’re not there yet, and may never be (again).
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycling, bike lanes, biking, Complete Streets, cycling infrastructure, NACTO, transportation, urban cycling
Urban Street Design Guide | NACTO.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: energy, energy flows, joules, mears, sankey diagram, tonnes
Gotta love the Sankey Diagram.
via: UK energy flows 2012 | Energy Matters
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Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Fukushima, nuclear accident, nuclear disaster, radiation, Tepco, typhoon, Wipha
via ex-skf: http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2013/10/large-and-strong-typhoon-no26.html
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Sorry about the ad below if there is one and sorry about the fact that the spent fuel pool might blow over in the typhoon and make the northern hemisphere uninhabitable.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Air pollution, black carbon, dirt clod, energy, industrial emissions, ozone, ozone concentrations, particulate, PM-2.5, tailpipe, transportation
Via MIT. Looking at 2005:
… Total combustion emissions in the U.S. account for about 200,000 (90% CI: 90,000–362,000) premature deaths per year in the U.S. due to changes in PM2.5 concentrations, and about 10,000 (90% CI: −1000 to 21,000) deaths due to changes in ozone concentrations. The largest contributors for both pollutant-related mortalities are road transportation, causing ∼53,000 (90% CI: 24,000–95,000) PM2.5-related deaths and ∼5000 (90% CI: −900 to 11,000) ozone-related early deaths per year, and power generation, causing ∼52,000 (90% CI: 23,000–94,000) PM2.5-related and ∼2000 (90% CI: −300 to 4000) ozone-related premature mortalities per year. Industrial emissions contribute to ∼41,000 (90% CI: 18,000–74,000) early deaths from PM2.5 and ∼2000 (90% CI: 0–4000) early deaths from ozone. The results are indicative of the extent to which policy measures could be undertaken in order to mitigate the impact of specific emissions from different sectors — in particular black carbon emissions from road transportation and sulfur dioxide emissions from power generation.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: "shutdown", EIA, energy, government shutdown, oil, oil prices
Leaving a void of energy propaganda.
Impact of the federal government shutdown on EIA ›
As a result of the lapse in appropriations for the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the EIA.gov website and our social media channels will not be updated after 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, October 11, 2013. Transactions submitted via the website might not be processed until appropriations are enacted; databases might not be available; and we will not be able to respond to inquiries.
Will the shutdown affect EIA\’s reports and data releases? Yes. The release of all reports and data will cease during the shutdown.
via U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Industrialized Cyclist Notepad 